Search For Girl Turns To Friend

Miami — Investigators want to speak to a Tennessee woman whose identity they think has been used by the former caretaker of missing 6-year-old Rilya Wilson to buy a car, rent homes and obtain credit cards.

But the woman, Bonnie Joyner, has not been cooperating with police and is possibly "in cahoots" with Geralyn Graham to commit fraud, prosecutor Mark Smith said in court Thursday.

Graham listed herself as Joyner's sister on an application to rent a Kendall home, but Joyner told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that she and Graham are "sisters in the Lord" and have been friends for many years.

Prosecutors also said that Joyner, in either 2000 or 2001, put about $11,000 in Graham's bank account.

Law enforcement officials would not discuss the significance of Joyner's financial dealings with Graham but they said they were investigating everyone connected to Graham because she was the last person who cared for the missing girl.

On Tuesday, prosecutors charged Graham, who is being called "Jane Doe" because of her multiple identities, with using Joyner's license to buy a 2002 Mitsubishi Montero from a Miami Lakes dealership in April.

During Graham's bond hearing on those charges Thursday, Smith said she is a "tidal wave of crime unto herself," dismissing arguments that new charges were brought to pressure Graham into revealing information about the girl's disappearance. Last week, Graham was arrested and charged with stealing more than $14,000 in public assistance.

Smith said prosecutors waited to charge Graham with vehicle fraud and forgery because they were not sure whether Joyner was a victim or a co-conspirator in the purchase of the $29,000 SUV.

"If she was in cahoots with Jane Doe, she too could be a subject of the investigation," he said. Investigators have not been able to speak with Joyner, which leads them to believe "she was part and parcel to this scam," he said.

Joyner said Thursday that she has been trying to help Graham because she was in need.

"I have a few friends who I'll do anything for and I will support them to the end," Joyner said. She would not say whether she had loaned the money to Graham or whether she had been defrauded.

"I've heard a lot of things," Joyner said. "But I don't have all the facts and I don't want to talk about it."

Joyner, a member of the World Overcomers Outreach Ministries in Memphis, said she does not seek the spotlight and is not looking for the approval.

"I do good work for the Lord, behind the scenes. I'll get my credit later in heaven," she said.

Joyner said she and Graham met when they both worked for the Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis about 25 years ago.

They became friends, she said, while working on a project to distribute the newspaper's special editions about the death of Elvis Presley. Their families got to know each other and their children grew up together, said Joyner, who later retired and now works part-time at a department store.

Prosecutors say Graham purchased the SUV by giving the dealership an altered version of Joyner's Tennessee driver's license.

The license bore Joyner's name and information, but Graham's photo had been taped over Joyner's, according to court records. Graham also signed her name as Bonnie Jean Joyner and bought the SUV using the woman's credit and work history, records show.

Assistant Public Defender Joe Reyes said the new charges are part of the prosecution's attempt to pressure Graham to produce new information on the disappearance of Rilya, but prosecutors said the state is acting in good faith.

"She is a prolific thief and a liar and she scams everyone," Smith told Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick. "If there is evidence uncovered against her, we are going to charge her again and again and again as the evidence warrants it."

Graham, who was not present at Thursday's hearing, was represented for the first time by a public defender after she filled out a form Monday saying she is indigent. She had been represented since Rilya was reported missing in April by a private criminal defense attorney.

It has not yet been decided whether the public defender's office will represent Graham or declare a conflict of interest because the office already represents her son Leo Epson on charges of defrauding a private Miami charity.

Ed Shohat, who previously represented Graham, has said police interviewed Joyner in the past and she told them she allowed Graham to use her identity.

When police searched Graham's home, they found a Social Security card, a cable bill, a Direct TV magazine and an empty cellular phone box, all bearing Joyner's name. Credit cards for Kmart, Best Buy, JC Penney, Burdines, along with a Household Bank MasterCard and an Ashley Stewart card, also in Joyner's name, were found in the house, authorities said.

Graham and another woman, Pamela Graham, were charged last week with stealing $14,257 in public assistance, money collected after Rilya vanished. Though the women have claimed they are sisters, police say they suspect that is not true. Both have pleaded not guilty to those charges. Geralyn Graham's son and daughter, Leo and Jacqueline Epson, were arrested on lesser charges. Jacqueline Epson has been released from jail.

The Grahams, who cared for Rilya since April 2000, said they last saw her in January 2001 when a state child welfare worker took her away from their Kendall home. DCF officials say they have no record of such a visit.

Diana Marrero can be reached at dmarrero@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5005. Paula McMahon can be reached at pmcmahon@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4533.